Now, my start as a writer began by accident, actually. I was ten-years-old and I constantly pestered my older (and endowed with a driver’s license) brother, to take me to the library so I could pick up books to read, as I had a voracious appetite for new adventures. I bugged the poor guy to death. Finally! He said, “If this is going on MY library card, you will read the books I pick.” I was concerned at first when I got this ultimatum, but he told me not to be worried. “I’ve got a good series all picked out,” he informed me as we searched the shelves in the library.
After following him around for a while, he finally came to a shelf that was covered in yellow bound books and he exclaimed, “Ah ha!” We marched over and he pulled out a book and held it up to me. It was a Nancy Drew mystery book. I had never heard of them before and was genuinely curious when he handed it to me. “You will be reading these from now on. When you finish this and two more, I will pick out another three for you to read.” I accepted the challenge and he gave me two more books from the Nancy Drew collection. So, that was my goal: read the three books my brother gave me and inform him when I was done so he could pick the next three for me.
This lasted for several months, and then I was old enough to get my own library card. Once I had that baby, I picked my own Nancy Drew books and took off! And it was from the writing of Carolyn Keene, that my very first character was born.
Aubrey Cass is a professional smart-ass, with no tolerance for stupidity, and a sharp mind for solving mysteries. Even though my set of short mystery stories on her were published after my novels, these stories were the first ones I wrote. A long time ago… on Planet Mars. I was just thinking how I went over these from when I originally wrote them when I was twelve, and me (now) was like, “Were you high on cocaine?! What the ‘bleep’ is this?!” Don’t worry! They’re all fixed now, and I’m so proud of my very first character.
And on that note, it’s been real!
It's Been Real! 